Viewpoint: control room interaction

Put simply, a control room is a place where a facility or service can be monitored and controlled.

While the equipment in the control room is essential to operation, to be effective it has to support the requirements of the operator.

Control room planners are now incorporating every aspect of human, machine and environment interaction.

This means it’s important to keep in mind that while in a control room, a person’s ability to use their senses is diminished – so they must rely on technology within the control room to determine what is happening and/or what action needs to be taken.

It’s important to keep in mind that while in a control room, a person’s ability to use their senses is diminished

Since the control room acts as a person’s ‘eyes and ears’, the design is extremely important.

In addition, the overall system is likely to fail if operators are overloaded, undertaking tasks for which they are poorly trained or straining to read displays that are illegible.

Layout

The control room serves as the shell of the system. The size of the room should accommodate all necessary equipment, while allowing for people to comfortably move about.

In addition to size, there are a variety of room shapes, but in general, rooms with sharply angled walls or with support columns should be avoided.

A rectangular room provides the most options for equipment, display and console positioning.

The room materials should also be considered. Ceiling materials should offer moderate to high reflectance of 0.8 or higher to improve light distribution throughout the room and reduce energy cost. The ideal walls in a control room feature an off-white matte or flat finish with a reflectance range of 0.5 to 0.6.

Floor materials should have a lower reflectance of 0.2 to 0.3 for carpet or 0.25 to 0.45 for floor tiles.

The size of the room should accommodate all necessary equipment, while allowing for people to comfortably move about

Operators typically do not like working in windowless environments. Unless prescribed for operational or security reasons, it is strongly recommended that north-facing windows are included in a control room, primarily for psychological reasons. However, such light sources also present potential security challenges and can contribute to reflections and glare.

Windows and doors should be out of the primary field of view but visible from a seated position.

Location

When determining console placement in the control room, it is important to consider the room’s dimensions, number of stations, measurements of each station, video wall sizes and aisle width.

For the ideal viewing angles, there should be little head movement and minimal eye movement (maximum eye movement is 35 degrees).

It is critical to determine if the workstation will be used as an isolated unit or in conjunction with overview displays or other workstations.

Sufficient space should be maintained in and around the console to allow multiple groups of personnel to view and analyse information

The height of the console should be calculated so the smallest operator can see over the top of any mounted electronics, walls or displays, and the clearance beneath the work surface should allow for the tallest operator to sit comfortably.

For optimal viewing of a large-screen display or group of displays, the distance should not be less than twice the display’s largest image height or greater than six times its height for normal video.

However, if this is the primary monitor and it should fit into the 30 degree cone-of-viewing, then the longer-range formula for viewing should take precedence.

Sufficient space should be maintained in and around the console to allow multiple groups of personnel to view and analyse information quickly and efficiently.

Flexibility

Depending on the control room objectives, consoles should be reconfigurable, allowing designers to move or install them in multiple locations. Furthermore, consoles that are easily expandable are also useful for applications that require various console size requirements.

Some control room designers weigh the differences between consoles and office furniture, and argue that both can be used interchangeably. But because the functions that take place within the control room are so important – often, life or death decisions – consoles must have extensive functionality advantages over basic office furniture.

Terry Shough is general manager of Winsted Control Rooms.